Philosophy of Imagination*Thirty Six

I struggle with a lot. A lot. But one of my biggest issues is listening. I am so packed full of opinions, I can't wait to interject or give advice, pushing my agenda. Problem is, no one gives a shit, besides me. Why do you think I'm writing these posts? I justify this, because it's written and people can come to my website to read it only if they want to. Otherwise they can ignore me. I'm fine with that. 

I'm certainly not alone in my deficiency. Most of us suck at listening. It really does take practice. A lot of it. I'm good at being quiet while people talk, looking on, attentive, sometimes with my brow knitted or the slow head nod in agreement with what is being spoken, but am I really listening? No. I'm taking it in, but I'm urgent to use my modicum of wisdom to help them solve their problem. 'Here's what you should do...' Bullshit. I'm making them my audience.

Have you ever cleared your mind, leaned in and only, really, truly just listened? Until a week ago, my answer was 'no'. Big, granite sculpted 'no'. But I've been trying to be aware. Cognizant. Clear-mind. No retorts or opinions on deck. Listening. It is crazy how much more you can absorb. It lands and feels different. So weird! But it is hard to remember to do all the time. I'm gonna keep working on it.

Listening is another key to growing your Imagination. Listening, empathy and Imagination are aligned. To really know people, to Imagine yourself in their shoes, to empathize, you have to listen like that. Forget yourself for a few minutes and listen. You're with yourself all the time. You have the floor for 24 hours out of the 24 hour day. You can handle sharing it for an hour or so every day. 

One of my favorite quotes ever is;
'You can't say anything you don't already know.' -- Unknown

Listen. Be curious. Expand your mind and Imagination. We are pliable. Nothing is certain, it's our best guess. Take in all the information you can, from both sides and think about it. Turn it over, look at it from every angle. We should be proud that we change our minds. That's evolution. Growing and maturing. Those are the people that survive. People who are stuck in their ways, will stay stuck, like mammoths in the tar. Not many mammoths around any more.

Truly listen. Erase you for a minute and listen. 

Philosophy of Imagination*Eighteen

Where's happy?

Hopefully all of them. Throw a rock and you'll hit happy. Have you ever been to an amazing concert? The band is playing the best song they've ever written, an energy and vitality like it was the first time they played it and crowd is going apeshit like it's the first time they've heard this musical genius!

What is that special feeling that everyone (except maybe the drunk people barfing in the port-potties) is experiencing? That euphoric happiness that is so strong, if a bomb was dropped on top of all of you, everyone would be fine with it. What is that connectedness that makes you lock eyes with a total sweaty stranger three rows down, while you dance and sing the lyrics to each other? Invisible, but palpable. Free, but invaluable. Strong, but fleeting. What makes this happen?

This can be said of all events where groups of people come together to share a joyous experience. Sports, movies, parades. It can also evaporate quickly and leave sad, anxious, angry feelings if something goes wrong. Like when your football team is winning big and the other team slowly comes back and that moment when they take the lead, its as if everyone was struck with depression and insecurities. They always use the term 'the air got sucked out of the stadium'. What is that? What sucks the collective exuberance out of a crowd? 

Imagination. Our Collective Imagination gets condensed, concentrated when we're all together, sharing an experience. Our Imaginations are working together toward a common idea -- how awesome this concert/game is going to continue to be. The best fucking concert ever! That's what the Collective Imagination is doing and it's so powerful, it can suck in everyone. 

If something goes wrong, someone gets hurt, the music stops, your team goes down late in the game, the same Collective Imagination that created the happiness hysteria, turns to Imagining the worst. The ripples encompassing everyone. Is the person gonna die? That might have been the last note my favorite band ever plays? Our season is over.

Overwhelmingly these events stay positive, fueling our happiness and love for each other without a word being spoken. How can we create more events and coming together moments where we tap into the beauty and power of our Collective Imagination? We should have huge coming togethers for no other reason than coming together.

For love alone.

Philosophy of Imagination*Ten

Today is V-E Day! Hooray! One of the greatest days in the history of our World. The day before, we were engaged in the biggest war the World has ever seen. People were dying everywhere. The families of soldiers were scared and fearful that their sons and husbands would never come home. Europe was drudging through the idea that their future lay under the thumb of Nazi rule.

Then the next day, that was all wiped away! Everyone could Imagine a big bright beautiful future! Even for Germany and the Nazis. All of that positivity and hope and dreams unleashed upon the Earth by millions of people at once. It had to have been palpable, the song of the collective Imagination rising up and making a rainbow that shown across the whole planet. I bet V-E Day set the record for most fucking in one day?

Propaganda can be a very effective tool in wartime. It can tap in to the darkness of the Imagination and foster feelings of dread and hopelessness. The psychological damage can be much more severe than the physical one. If that hopelessness spurred on by negative propaganda permeates a city or town or country, often times there is no coming back. 

It's best not to listen at all and only see the life in front of you. Keep your spirits up and hope alive for a brighter tomorrow. That spirit is what kept the Allies going. Despite overwhelming odds, they could still envision a great future with their collective Imagination. They were able to defeat an enemy that was unbeatable, because they believed they could do it and they didn't listen to the voices telling them that they were finished.

Recently I was feeling very anxious, angry and scared about our current political climate. Every day there was something in the news that reignited the fire that I had put out the day before. I got so caught up in the propaganda, I was having trouble focusing on anything else. So I quit the news. I haven't read or watched any news in almost two months and I feel amazing! My mind and Imagination are working better than ever! And it allows me to Imagine my World, how I truly see it, not how the news media and advertisers want me to see it. 

We need to think more for ourselves. I didn't realize how much power the media has until I turned them off. It is powerful! They are creating drama and your Imagination (usually the dark side of it) blows it even further out of proportion. We have to think for ourselves. Take back full control of our Imaginations and let it focus on making our lives happier and more fulfilling.

You're Imagination is your own. Make sure you're piloting it.

Philosophy of Imagination

Where did Imagination come from? Why did it come? Did it come all at once? Did the first animal that got Imagination look out into the World it inhabited and say 'I think I can make this a better place', in whatever animal language they spoke? Or did he Imagine saying that to himself? And did it freak him out that his own voice was suddenly in his head? Or did it happen gradually to species of animals? One step at a time as the generations moved down the line of time? It seems that it would have had to come gradually, as the brain is the most complex known thing in our Universe. That it needed time to grow and mature. If you just handed someone/something Imagination (and therefore consciousness as I believe the ability to have a 'me', to know that you exist, to ask questions, to have feelings, to create, to learn is all born of Imagination *which is why it gets capitalized) it would wig them out. They would have no idea of the self and suddenly it's upon them -- they would think they were crazy bananas. But crazy is an abstraction, too. Maybe they would freeze? Their instinct for survival being drowned out by all this amazing Imagination? I believe it came on slow. Like life. Like geology. Like the coalescing of the Galaxies and Solar Systems and Planets. It.                     Takes.                                            A.                                           Long.                                                                                                                      Time. But who were the first animals/beings with full Imaginations? Where they could feel/know a self? Where they could feel emotion? What was the first emotion? Have to be fear? The instinct of survival that just goes. Is Imagination contagious? Are animals like dogs more likely to have Imaginations (or more acute Imaginations) because they're around people more? Is the process of evolution sped up when animals, insects, human beings are around more Imagination? Imagination is everything, but at its core, where Imagination gets its heart and power and kindness is that it looks at the World as it is and says 'I can make this place, this mind, this life better.' 

If we can grow everyone's Imagination, this World will be a better place for everyone.

In the Beginning...

Since the beginning of humankind, zealous, god-fearing, rich men have conquered lands and exploited indigenous people. We steal their natural resources, their wealth and their women. We scour the Earth, eyes black with greed, mouths dripping with lust as we gobble up gold, oil, agriculture, minerals. We grab anything we can see and call dibs. Then we try and make them in our image. Teach them our language. Convert them to our religion. Fuck their women so the kids start to look more like us. We've been chasing things.

Let us be the first generation to look back on our history and say;

'We fucked up. We've been chasing the wrong shit for 3,000 years!'

Let's forgive ourselves and each other and set all these things aside.  

Now, we pursue the real treasure in this World. People. We'll absorb their art, their culture and their wisdom. We will leave them be, to be exactly who they are and they will do the same for us.

If we allow people to be themselves, they can follow their dreams and Imagination, the two most powerful things in the Universe. And in following those dreams and Imagination, our World will become a better place fast, a place of confidence and light. 

Because if we don't throw away the old plan soon, if we keep on this trajectory of greed and excess, we will become a blip, a footnote, a failed experiment in evolution.

Love all People. Let them be themselves. Let you be you.

Imagine that.